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This is Your Brain On BQ: What Went Through My Mind at the Phoenix Marathon

I will do a traditional race review with all the key information on this race, but in the meantime, here is a compilation of what I was thinking (approximately chronological) during the Phoenix Marathon, where I finally earned my BQ with a finish time of 3:28:56.

First let me set the stage. I’d been stressed leading up to this race and, in the final days, my IT band had been nagging me. The day before the race, my throat started to feel raw, and I worried that the disease spreading through my family members had finally made its way to me. I took an Aleve, had a Snickers ice cream bar, and put myself to bed early. It was all I could do! The morning of the race, I made it to the start area (again, more on logistics to come). But still things weren’t going my way for a “perfect” race: my phone mysteriously only had 32% battery, the bathroom line — far from the heat of the campfires– was hopelessly long, and as I stood there shivering I imagined all the energy my body was wasting before the race even began. As 6:30 am neared, I reached the front of the bathroom line. Fireworks marked the start of the race as I made my way to bag check and the start line. I queued up Strava on my watch, took a few steps over the mats, and hit start…

Here we go! Time to get on the right pace.

Oh crap why is Strava not recording? What is Auto Pause?

Ok it appears to be working now. How long was it paused?

Wait why is this interface different? It doesn’t have my pace-just my speed. OMG it’s on bike mode. Well I guess I can’t change it now

This is really beautiful. Sunrise. Cacti.

My teeth will stop chattering soon, I’m sure.

Don’t start too fast.

My feet are un-freezing and regaining feeling. I hope those aren’t bunches in my socks.

Mile one. Does this race seriously not have clocks at the mile markers?